This section discusses the results of the review, specifically challenges in e-learning in the context of a pandemic. The discussion of these challenges is grouped into separate sub-sections in accordance to three main perspectives in the use of e-learning, namely students, lecturers and higher education institutions. These challenges for students, lecturers, and higher education institutions are also summarized in Table 1, Table 2, and Table 3 respectively. In addition, the identified challenges are also presented visually as a taxonomy as seen in Figure 2.
Figure 1. An overview of literature search results
Student’s challenges
As e-learning necessitates students to study independently, they often find themselves challenged by self-regulation issues such as low motivation to study and ineffective communication with their fellow students (Rannastu-Avalos and Siiman 2020; Wan Hassan et al. 2020; Zhang et al. 2020). This self- regulation issue may be compounded should the students do not have adequate information and
Aini, Budiarto, Putra/Exploring E-learning Challenges During the Pandemic
communications technology (ICT) knowledge (Wan Hassan et al. 2020). Learning virtually poses as a challenge for students since they may find it difficult sense cognitive, social, teaching presences in e- learning systems (Rannastu-Avalos and Siiman 2020; Zulkefli et al. 2020). This is related to how well an e-learning system support those presences through use of appropriate features. In terms of e-learning system support, there are also other challenges with regard to overall user experience of the system.
These include not only ease of use and usability aspects of the e-learning system, but also perceived availability of technical support and how well the system supports devices or equipment used by students (Almaiah et al. 2020; Wan Hassan et al. 2020; Zulkefli et al. 2020). In higher education institutions where there is not a standard system for delivering online learning, students may find themselves using various education platforms for different courses. This may also be a challenge for students (Al-Balas et al. 2020). Finally, as e-learning systems usually runs on the Internet, poor internet coverage or limited Internet data packages are also typical obstacles felt by e-learning students, especially those that come from developing countries with limited Internet connectivity and low bandwidth (Al-Balas et al. 2020; Farooq et al. 2020; Wan Hassan et al. 2020).
Lecturer’s challenges
The pandemic comes a surprise to lecturer who find their way of teaching or general operations disrupted by the new way of learning. For lecturers who are not accustomed and trained to creating and delivering teaching materials for online platform, this may be a significant challenge (Farooq et al.
2020). Formal training in creating and delivering materials may be necessary for lecturers in conducting e-learning as it incorporates both instructional and visual design for the course materials to be effective.
Operationally, lecturers find themselves spend more time preparing for e-learning compared to offline learning, thus higher workload with increasing volumes of learning materials (Rannastu-Avalos and Siiman 2020). As mode of delivery is entirely online, observing and maintaining students’ engagement in both asynchronous and synchronous settings may also be difficult for lecturers (Farooq et al. 2020;
Rannastu-Avalos and Siiman 2020). This situation may affect to assessment components being delivered e-learning system (Rannastu-Avalos and Siiman 2020).
Institution’s challenges
In these trying times, higher education institutions must ensure that they sufficiently support e-learning usage, not only technically as required by students as discussed previously, but also financially.
Financial support may come in a form of budgetary provision and ensuring that e-learning implementation project is not delayed (Almaiah et al. 2020). Such support may be foundational for an implementation of e-learning to be a success. Once the e-learning has been implemented, higher education institutions may also face a problem of a lack of adoption, which may stem from change management issues, such as lack of awareness and interests among users (Almaiah et al. 2020). In this pandemic, the issue of resistance to change is still an issue from the perspective of higher education institutions as the current situation forces learning and teaching activities to shift mode (Almaiah et al.
2020). Hence, educational institutions are encouraged to be able to leverage their knowledge of needs and challenges of students and lecturer in order to provide reliable e-learning system. While many studies have focused on the challenges faced by students and lecturers, as our review shows, there are limited studies documenting challenges faced by higher education institutions. When discussing these challenges for higher education institutions, lecturers, and students as distinct groups, it may seem that these challenges may be exclusive to each group. However, we find that these challenges are interrelated and may influence each other, such as those self-regulation issues for both students and lecturers we discuss in previous sub-section or how lack of training for lecturers may influence their ability to maintain students’ engagement online. Therefore, there may be necessary to further examine of how these challenges are related and influence each other in order to implement e-learning successfully in the context of a pandemic.
Table 1. Previous studies on student’s e-learning challenges during pandemic Inductive
challenge categories
Inductive challenge sub-categories
Challenges Literature
Students Infrastructure &
Connectivity challenges
Poor internet
coverage/infrastructure
(Al-Balas et al.
2020; Farooq et al.
2020) Limitation in internet data
packages/ Internet connectivity and low bandwidth
(Al-Balas et al.
2020; Farooq et al.
2020; Wan Hassan et al. 2020)
E-learning system support challenges
Lacking in suitable
devices/technical equipment
(Al-Balas et al.
2020; Zulkefli et al.
2020)
Variation of education platforms (Al-Balas et al.
2020)
Ease of use (Almaiah et al. 2020;
Wan Hassan et al.
2020; Zulkefli et al.
2020) Technical support/help
availability
(Almaiah et al. 2020;
Wan Hassan et al.
2020; Zulkefli et al.
2020)
Accessibility (Almaiah et al. 2020;
Wan Hassan et al.
2020; Zulkefli et al.
2020)
Social presence (Zulkefli et al. 2020) Teaching presence (Zulkefli et al. 2020) Cognitive presence (Rannastu-Avalos
and Siiman 2020;
Zulkefli et al. 2020) Technological
competency and self- regulation challenges
Lack of ICT knowledge (Wan Hassan et al.
2020)
Low motivation (Rannastu-Avalos
and Siiman 2020;
Wan Hassan et al.
2020) Maintaining effective
communication with peers
(Zhang et al. 2020)
Aini, Budiarto, Putra/Exploring E-learning Challenges During the Pandemic
Table 2. Previous studies on lecturer’s e-learning challenges during pandemic Inductive
challenge categories
Inductive challenge sub-categories
Challenges Literature
Lecturers Competency &
operational challenges
Lack of proper/formal training (Farooq et al.
2020)
Maintaining online learner’s engagement/ Involving student is challenging
(Farooq et al. 2020;
Rannastu-Avalos and Siiman 2020)
Higher workload (Rannastu-Avalos
and Siiman 2020) Difficult to observe all
students
(Rannastu-Avalos and Siiman 2020) Assessment issues (Rannastu-Avalos
and Siiman 2020) Lessons more concentrated in
volume
(Rannastu-Avalos and Siiman 2020) Lecturer’s self-
regulation challenges
Learning difficulties (Rannastu-Avalos and Siiman 2020) Lack of time management
skills
(Rannastu-Avalos and Siiman 2020)
Low motivation (Rannastu-Avalos
and Siiman 2020) Lecturer’s isolation
challenges
Working from home and maintaining work-life balance
(Farooq et al.
2020) Feeling of loneliness in a
video lesson
(Rannastu-Avalos and Siiman 2020)
Table 3. Previous studies on institution’s e-learning challenges during pandemic Inductive
challenge categories
Inductive challenge sub-categories
Challenges Literature
Institution Financial support challenges
Lack of financial support (Almaiah et al.
2020)
Projects delay (Almaiah et al.
2020) Change management
challenges
Lack of awareness (Almaiah et al.
2020)
Lack of interests (Almaiah et al.
2020)
Resistance to change (Almaiah et al.
2020)
Figure 2. Taxonomy of challenges in e-learning during COVID-19 pandemic
Conclusion
This study presents a review exploring the challenges in e-learning during the global COVID-19 pandemic from the points of view lecturers, students, and academic institutions. Having examined 49 studies including the resulting seven studies from the Scopus databased in between January to August 2020, we identify and categorize challenges inductively into themes and grouped into the said points of view. We understand that students are being challenged not by the typical technological and self- regulation issues such as lack of ICT knowledge and low motivation, but also Internet connectivity and e-learning support issues. We also understand that some of the challenges faced by students are shared by lecturers especially those of self-regulation issues. Additionally, lecturers are hampered by competency and operational issues in delivering e-learning materials, such as lack of training,
Aini, Budiarto, Putra/Exploring E-learning Challenges During the Pandemic
maintaining student’s engagement, and higher teaching workload. Furthermore, isolation issues such as loneliness in video lesson and maintaining work-life balance in a working from home setting are also concerns of lecturers. Finally, the global pandemic also brings about a range institutional challenges such as obtaining financial support and addressing the change management issues e.g. resistance to change and lack of interests in adopting e-learning. This study is limited by selection criteria it employed and scholarly database chosen. If we had accessed other databases such as Google Scholar with varied additional queries such as “online learning”, we may have gotten more articles. However, this study may be adequate in conveying e-learning challenges during a pandemic as a reference for future research.
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How to cite:
Aini, Q., Budiarto, M., and Putra, P. O. H. 2020. “ Exploring E-learning Challenges During the Global COVID-19 Pandemic: A Review,” Jurnal Sistem Informasi (Journal of Information System) (16:2), pp. 57–65.